On Sunday October 27, two major sporting events of the same magnitude went down in two continents.
In Kenya, there was the Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon while in Germany, Frankfurt Marathon was the day’s highlight.
Due to the nature of the races and competitors, Kenya has the biggest interest in the two events. Kenyan athletics fans were definitely glued on TVs to watch their loved ones in Frankurt and back at home.
But what are the major differences?
Purity Changwany wins the 42km Female #StanChartMarathon Race and she walks away with KES. 2,000,000! An amazing performance! pic.twitter.com/fTdTwaWR9s
— Standard Chartered (@StanChartKE) October 27, 2019
Competitors
Nairobi Marathon attracted competitors from within the borders. Brimin Kipkorir and Purity Jebichi clocked 2:10:42 and 2:30:34 respectively to emerge winners of the event’s 17th edition in the men’s and women’s categories respectively.
Brimin Kipkorir has reclaimed the 42km Male #StanChartMarathon Race! A great performance! He walks away with KES. 2,000,000 pic.twitter.com/EMFCaNw5Qq
— Standard Chartered (@StanChartKE) October 27, 2019
On the other hand, Frankfurt Marathon had about 14,000 runners from 110 countries. Kenya’s Valary Jemeli Aiyabei clocked 2:19:46 to win the Women category. Ethiopia’s Fikre Tefera won the men category.
Prize money
While the prize money for Frankfurt Marathon is not in the public domain, winners of Nairobi Marathon scooped Sh2 million each.
Co-operate team
Nairobi Marathon had the co-operate category where companies and organizations slotted their employees for the competition. There were also half-marathon, 10km and 5km races.
Fanfare
Nairobi Marathon was absolutely more fun than the Frankfurt’s due to the fact that the former allowed non-professional runners to participate. Most of them printed and lifted placards with hilarious wordings which literary lit social media.
IAAF Recognition
Frankfurt Marathon race is recognized by IAAF. In fact it’s an IAAF Gold Label event, the highest category in international road racing.
On the other hand, StanChart Marathon is more of a co-operate stuff and is not necessarily recognized by Athletics Kenya or IAAF.